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[Golfhaus]

I'd like to talk, if I may, for a second about the ramifications of the GOF story arc - specifically, what Onstad is doing to Ray as a character. I'm pondering how to address Achewood in a scholarly-type paper thing, and I have this sort of thing on the brain.

I wonder if I'm the only one a little... I don't know... concerned about what's going on with Son of Rodney. Ray in the beginning was one of the Dirtiest Dudes In Town, the one who'd mix vodka up for Philippe. A bit crass, but harmless. It wasn't until Onstad started to develop the backstory of the characters that Ray took on the primary traits of his character: dumb luck, ego (as opposed to Pat's hubris and eternally in contrast with Beef's self-deprecation), and a basically happy-go-lucky attitude in life. He owns forty-foot long #####, ate half a piece of paper on accident, and wears a crown whenever he gets laid. Nowhere has violence factored into it. Ray is not a violent man. Ray. Is. Not. A. Violent. Man.{1}

But now, the GOF. Sure, he's been inspired by the revelation that Rodney Stubbs was his dad. There appears to be some kind of need to connect with his dad on that level. Is Ray's life that empty that he seeks to change himself into the cold-hearted killer his dad was? Is Ray READY for this? The GOF does not last forever. It lasts for three days. If there's not some kind of shake down afterwards, some moment of "What The Hell Just Happened To Me?," it will be a serious weakness in the way this strip is put together. In short, I'll be hell of insulted as a reader if the day after Onstad tacks the "Fin." in the lower right corner, the strip shows Ray sitting at the pool with a Ketel One, laughing at how drunk Lyle is or how fat Todd got. There needs to be some kind of decompression period there.


{1} One might point out Ray's demolition of the Honda when he discovered LN's actions, but that is a different thing - he's dismantling a car. He was not violent toward LN himself - in fact, LN was only grounded for "a few hours."

[misterqueue]

Great minds think alike apparently.

[Tangle]

I'm hoping real hard that after all is said and done, however it goes down in the end, there will be some kind of profound, I don't know, redemption for Ray's actions. Some sequence of events that allows him to go right back to his old bumbling, lovable self. I trust (and hope) that Onstad can pull this off.

[Golfhaus]

I'm not saying that I'll get pissed off if we ever see the old Ray again (although Q has pointed out that how this could even be possible is an issue), but really, it can't be something that happens quick.

Perhaps what I'd really like to see is for him to go off somewhere to come to grips with it... he could update via his blog, as Mr. Bear did during his trip to Russia, and then maybe for a few weeks we could see some of those other characters that Onstad used to have.

[misterqueue]

Oh I'd love to see the old Ray.  I prefer him actually.  This is a nice change of pace, but really I am going to miss him if we cannot find a meaningful way to transition him back to the point where he's smelling lawnmowers in the garage.

[Tangle]

Perhaps what I'd really like to see is for him to go off somewhere to come to grips with it... he could update via his blog, as Mr. Bear did during his trip to Russia, and then maybe for a few weeks we could see some of those other characters that Onstad used to have.

I heartily agree. I would love to see a storyline centered on Téodor and Cornelius, for instance.

[Golfhaus]

I miss Mr. Bear terribly.

Swinging the topic back online though... how are characters like Cornelius and Philippe expected to interact with a man who cold ripped the face off a man? You expect Lyle to have gotten a bit rough with folks from time to time, and look at how the two of them get along. Does this mean the stone cold end of Mr. Bear going to Ray's parties? Do his parties lose their sophistication as Ray starts hanging with a tougher crowd? Does Ray scare the shit out of Philippe?

[dejavroom]

Good thread, good thread. As someone interested in the nuts and bolts of the writing process, this whole approach to Ray as a character was running in the back of my mind for a while now.

I'm hoping real hard that after all is said and done, however it goes down in the end, there will be some kind of profound, I don't know, redemption for Ray's actions. Some sequence of events that allows him to go right back to his old bumbling, lovable self. I trust (and hope) that Onstad can pull this off.

Good thing with Onstad is that he's likely to pull something outrageous out of the blue that could provide a slick and seamless leap back to the Ray We Used To Know, without necessarily having to make much sense (the best Achewood strips to me were always the ones that played - toyed - with my preconceptions of how a traditional setup should work). It's risky but he has proven more than once that he can do it - and I would feel it to be more in the Achewood spirit if there was a slight "fuck you" to traditional post-denouement tactics.

(And since I'm as guilty as anyone of rabid speculation over the fates of these talking cats and stuffed animals, and remembering King Cochacho's medallion's mood-altering properties, I would be perfectly satisfied with having... Ray... losing his (Rodney's) hat to a sudden gust of wind... in the middle of the final fight with some mindless bonesucking machine... and suddendly looking all dude-y again, clueless as ever, having no idea even of how he got there.)

[Emergent_C]

I think the thing to consider here is the nature of cats...many people think of them as cute, lovable little furballs, but in reality they are stone cold killing machines. They are viscious, dangerous little murderers (or--in the case of big cats, like Siegfried and Roy's tigers--gigantic engines of terror). But none of that goes contrary to their nature. They are both affectionate and deadly. Even in the case of an anthropomorphized cat such as Ray, both aspects of his inherent felineness would be in evidence, and would be eminently compatible.

[dejavroom]

"Mmmm...", we say.

[Tangle]

Emergent C, that was a brilliant point. A point worthy of a tiny can, 'twas.

[V-Adore]

Good point on the cat thing, Emergent C. I know this arc has really reminded me that Ray is a cat, with all that implies, including the violence and instinctive hunting-focused brutality.

I'm sort of ambivalent about this topic. On one hand, I would like to see Old Ray return; he is/was a good character with an important role in the strip's character dynamics, and it would feel strange to have Ray undergo such a sea change. (Might it be matched by a similar change in Beef, too? If so, Achewood has a large chance of changing its feel entirely. Or maybe becoming a strip about the alive stuffed animals again.) On the other hand, if Onstad pulls another "sudden tone change at the end of a character arc, with the status quo reset" thing, it'll cheapen this whole enterprise. I know that Ray is one of the most change-resistant characters in the strip, but even he can't bounce back from this, and I'd rather see Onstad shift the tone of the strip than abandon what is probably his strongest arc to date.

[Golfhaus]

Good thread, good thread. As someone interested in the nuts and bolts of the writing process, this whole approach to Ray as a character was running in the back of my mind for a while now.

Deja, my working title for the aforementioned paper is "Momentary Diversions: Establishing the Canon in Onstad's Achewood" and will attempt to address the issue of the changing dynamic in the early strips and how it affects later arcs (the stuffed animals hiding in Onstad's house vs. the Underground vs. Ray hiring Bono's obviously feline butler).

I suppose the issue that Q and I have is that Onstad may have painted himself into a corner here: either ruin the Ray character or take one more shot at the ludicrous that ruins the believability of the strip (as much as you can believe a strip about cartoon cats). You and Tangle have a more optimistic approach, that he will be able to creatively work Ray back to where he was. I share that hope... what I fear (and I believe Q shares it) is that Onstad will do it in a flippant matter, so that he can go back to the silly Ray/Beef strips that he feels the most comfortable working with.

Emergent's reflection on feline nature is important to consider, given that the characters almost never act like cats. They walk like people, talk like people, have sex in the missionary position like people. In the more recent strips, there have only been two times when they started to act like cats - when Ray and Beef tried to go primal by wearing manes, and the GOF. Is the GOF a chance for anthropomorphic cats to realize the full potential of their baser instincts?

[Bobby Isosceles]

All of you quit your wanking. Here's your decompression right here. Ray takes a shower and Teodor coaches him on the next act. End of story.

[dejavroom]

Actually, "Heh. Whatever happened with that, anyway" is a very nice example of how Achewood can graciously disregard the aforementioned traditional post-denouement etcoeteras. It stands to be seen if that's the route we'll be taking.